Restricting Symbolic Links (UNIX/Linux)

You can limit the use of the file system links in your server. File
system links are references to files stored in other directories or file systems.
The reference makes the remote file as accessible as if it were in the current
directory. There are two types of file system links:

Hard
links—A hard link is really two filenames that point to the same set
of data blocks; the original file and the link are identical. For this reason,
hard links cannot be on different file systems.

Symbolic (soft) links—A
symbolic link consists of two files, an original file that contains the data,
and another that points to the original file. Symbolic links are more flexible
than hard links. Symbolic links can be used across different file systems
and can be linked to directories.

For more information about hard and symbolic links, see your UNIX/Linux
system documentation.

File system links are an easy way to create pointers to documents outside
of the primary document directory and anyone can create these links. People can thus create pointers to sensitive
files such as confidential documents or system password files.